


Lilium

by Tuberose84



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy VII Remake - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23893876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tuberose84/pseuds/Tuberose84
Summary: Tifa is compelled to research the meaning of a flower she receives from Cloud. She reflects on their history together and their reunion.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 2
Kudos: 69





	Lilium

_Lily, the common name applied to herbaceous flowering plants belonging to the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae. The genus contains between 80 and 100 species._

_The true lilies are erect perennial plants with leafy stems, scaly bulbs, usually narrow leaves, and solitary or clustered flowers. The flowers consist of six petallike segments, which may form the shape of a trumpet, with a more or less elongated tube. Alternatively, the segments may be reflexed (curved back) to form a turban shape, or they may be less strongly reflexed and form an open cup or bowl shape. The flowers of some species are quite fragrant, and they occur in a wide variety of colors._

_The source of the fragrance of love,  
lilies portray ardor, affection, the unity of spirits, and 100 years of love.  
If a lady is given this sweet-scented flower, she knows: This is my lover!_

Tifa rereads the passage in the tattered leather bound Botanical Encyclopedia text for the third time. She feels a warmth spread across her cheeks as she recalls the debonair manner in which Cloud handed her the flower earlier in the evening. And how in response her heart stirred in her chest as she suddenly averted her eyes downward; concealing them beneath her lashes. Ordinarily she wasn’t one to swoon. Her inherent charm and warmth drew in friends and patrons alike of course. But generally speaking, while she has dated she’s managed to maintain boundaries that halted any progression to an overtly serious courtship. She hadn’t felt that way since…

Right hand lazily tracing the faded ink of the illustration accompanying the encyclopedia entry, with the opposite she lifts the vibrant yellow bloom to her nostrils. Closing her eyes, she inhales deeply and relishes the sensation of the velvety petals on her skin as its perfume inundates her.

Suddenly she sees her mother tending to the backyard garden of her childhood home. She’s as beautiful as ever and smiling as she waves and beckons an eight year old Tifa to join her. But it’s fleeting. Sadly, this image is replaced with the white funeral wreath adorning her mother’s casket. On the morning of the burial she had temper tantrum so ferocious it culminated with both she and her father in tears on the wooden floor of their home. It’s been many years now since her passing but the memory still cuts her deeply. She forces herself to remember in part because she’s fearful of forgetting her mother’s face. 

Then the vision passes. Eyelids still shut, she is whisked away to the warm sun, expansive blue skies, and open fields of Nibelheim. She recalls vividly how often she would run and tumble in those wheat fields. The revelry and juvenile sense of abandon of it. As if secure in the notion of the feel of damp earth beneath her miniature toes and lush vegetation surroundeding her would be accessible forever. She doesn’t imagine at such a tender age that in the future tragedy will sentence her to a life under a steel sky surrounded by concrete and asphalt. And yes, she remembers the cohort of boys, her friends, who joined her during such fun escapades. Save for the one for who, ever the pariah, somehow evaded her company. 

“Cloud, are you ignoring me!?”

His was frame more slender and smaller in stature than the others. Even when his peers around him, blossoming from boys into young men, reached that age associated with the onset of a steep increase in height, broadening of their shoulders and deepening of their voices he lagged somewhat behind. But for what he lacked in stature - though in all earnestness even back then she though he was cute - what made him stand out was his tuft of unruly blond hair and piercing cerulean eyes. Eyes which more often than not gazed at her even as she was unaware. He remained in her orbit, loitering in the periphery. 

He was somewhat withdrawn, yet intense as if a silent storm raged within him. She was surprised when he approached her to meet him at the water tower. And that night when he confessed his aspirations to leave Nibelheim and join SOLDIER, perhaps it was the intrusive sense of bereavement and disappointment that spurred her to hold him to that oath to return to her. Her heroic SOLDIER decked in military regalia and ready to save her.  
Maybe she just expected him to always be there, a constant presence and source of comfort even from afar as the other boys each left one by one. In his absence she found her thoughts returning to him more than anticipated. Yes, she recreated him in her mind’s eye, her SOLDIER. She imagined it was him holding her hand on her first date. That it was his own lips and soft breath against her skin during her first kiss…

Who could have foreseen the carnage, death and destruction that was to follow shortly thereafter? And the hollowness she experienced at him not being there. Although somehow, she does remember receiving a fleeting glimpse of him in the midst of that tragedy. Of being held in his arms as he wept. His eyes then were more beautiful than she remembered. But she often dismisses this memory as one attributed to delirium following her near fatal injury. 

7 years later, he materializes at the sector 7 slum train station. He recognizes her first and the site before her is a pitiful one. As if he’s lurking somewhere between life and death itself. She is startled by his eyes. Not the cerulean she remembers and emanating an inhuman glow. She recalls the conversations she’s overheard among her female 7th Heaven Patrons about the physical attributes of SOLDIERs, the eyes being among the less sordid details she’s picked up. But it isn’t just that alone, the innocence is also gone. Replaced with a confusion, sorrow and hardness that informs her that he too has experienced his own share of tragedy. But at least beneath the dried blood and grime he still possessed that yellow tuft of hair albeit now cropped short.

She proceeded to take him home. One arm slung over his shoulder as she lugged him back to her residence. She found that yes, his frame was still rather slender. However, she marveled at the weight of him. His body was pure muscle and the feel of him against her comparatively delicate body was oddly reassuring. She was carrying him yet his mere presence was beginning to support her in a way she hadn’t realized she needed.

She never imagined that they would be reunited. Let alone under such circumstances. Once upon a time their reunion was the object of her teenage heart’s desire. And perhaps that desire lingered through adulthood subconsciously. Maybe she’s stopped herself from meditating on that promise under the stars so long ago because after such immeasurable loss, how could she dare to hope to retrieve anything joyful from that past? And besides, she’s since learned how to take care of herself.  
Could she reconcile her pubescent aspiration of a hero with this seemingly broken man - irrespective of how she notes he tries to conceal the cracks - before her? But the affection is still there, slowly being rekindled and refined. He’s still in there somewhere. Maybe now she could help save him? Or better yet could they save one another? She isn’t sure what the future holds, but she is certain she wants him to stay. She has so many unanswered questions, so many confessions…

Tifa doesn’t know how long she holds the lily firmly in her grasp. She is suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to nurture it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm aware that the Lily has a wide multitude of meanings in various cultures but I chose to hone in on the theme and motif that is emphasized in the remake itself. I did touch upon the death of Tifa's mother however.  
> I wish we saw some version of Tifa looking up the meaning of the flower as referenced in Chapter 14 in the game. Look forward to reading more fan interpretations as well.


End file.
